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The Nantgarw Dances
The Nantgarw Dances have been recalled by Mrs. Margretta Thomas and noted down from time to time by her daughter, Dr Ceinwen Thomas. In her childhood, Nantgarw was a very different place from the industrial centre that we know today. Lying between the River Taff and the Glamorgan canal, it was a small compact village and its inhabitants mainly monoglot Welsh. There were a few families of Staffordshire people, known as Pipers, who once worked at the famous potteries. Among the villagers, there were still a few boatmen, who stabled their horses there and worked on the canal. The rest worked in the drifts, which were beginning to be opened up around the village. This closely knit community included the farms, up and down the valley. It was a period of stern puritanism: games and dancing were regarded with abhorrence. Hymns were the only things that might be sung. But the older people belonged to a more tolerant generation. In the taverns, dancing continued, encouraged by a family of harpers. It is surprising that dances, chiefly solos, were still performed at Noson Lawen, even in the strictest households. At Nantgarw, on Whit Monday, tea and sports were held; and at Groeswen on the following day. Though many people looked askance, dancing always went on in one corner of the field. The harpers were in attendance and groups from different villages took their turn to dance. This was the atmosphere in which Mrs. Thomas was brought up. Both her father and
grandmother were keenly interested in the old ways of life, particularly in the dancing.
They were determined that the child should see and remember the good things that were
quickly passing away. To their interest and her own remarkable memory, we owe a collection
of nine dances. Although they are all known as the Nantgarw Dances, they fall into two
categories; those actually performed at Nantgarw or Groeswen and those seen at Caerphilly
fair.
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